Materialism and Modern Society

[e30davie]

Forget cars. materialism and having kids really hit me like a train. Our families are quite generous in general with their time and hospitality. but from my kids 1st birthday they have been swimming in toys. everyone feels the need to give generously and what happens is my house is just filled with stuff we didn't even buy. I cannot believe we have to have "toy rotations" in the toy room as there isn't enough space for all the toys to fit. Makes me feel a little bit uneasy really from a waste perspective.

[Tom Galloway]

Same here with our sons family . This is not good, but WHAT TO DO.

[e30davie]

Who knows. We have tried to steer the presents towards "Experiences", ie - yearly pass to the zoo between multiple givers etc. but then you get "but that's not exciting for the kid to open on the day".. ;/

[ZeKahr]

I’m struggling to understand how you guys raise kids and deal with cars this old at the same time. I feel like I’d go either broke, insane, or both if I had to support even one kid in addition to my E30.

[Northern]

Does money buy happiness?

It all depends on why someone is unhappy, and how the money is managed/used. You can use money to add or remove stress to your life, it's all in how you use it.

How much "stuff" is enough?

There's no limit, some people will be happy with nothing and some will be unhappy with everything.

I find I buy a lot of junk for projects that never get done.

What does fulfillment look like for you?

Honestly I have no idea. Probably less to do with "stuff" and more about how much time I spend doing things I enjoy.

Will society always be materialistic?

Yes.

I like tech but rarely spend serious money on it. $25 refurb phone that's now 3 gens old, most other stuff (headphones, earbuds, TV, is bought on major sales.
My PC was an exception, but I'm going back to 1-2 gen old hardware once this is completely obsolete.

Bought a house in my early 20s for location/price/garage potential. Simply lucked out with the timing.
It's a major project and sucks my time/money, but I would happily live here until I retire unless the block gets bought out by a developer.
~10 years later, Garage is finally in progress, hopefully done before August.

Wife thrifts or buys most of our clothes on sale and doesn't have luxurious standards.
We try to do one nice trip a year, kind of messed that up with school and covid but I'm making an effort.

I think my lifestyle is atypical, as I constantly see folks with brand new cars, new $1000+ cellphones every year, etc.

I see this sort of stuff too. I think the new phones crap is just marketing BS, but for cars I think there are two scenarios.
Some people have wildly different tolerances for recurring bills - A friend of mine is basically willing to spend half his income on a car payment, and has basically always had his life set up to do this.
Other people just make far too much money lol.

[varg]

Forget cars. materialism and having kids really hit me like a train. Our families are quite generous in general with their time and hospitality. but from my kids 1st birthday they have been swimming in toys. everyone feels the need to give generously and what happens is my house is just filled with stuff we didn't even buy. I cannot believe we have to have "toy rotations" in the toy room as there isn't enough space for all the toys to fit. Makes me feel a little bit uneasy really from a waste perspective.

I hope I don't have to deal with that. I don't like waste and I think back on some of the toys I received as a kid and they were a total waste.

I see this sort of stuff too. I think the new phones crap is just marketing BS

I know they sell in huge numbers, but I don't really know who to. I work in an engineering company, there are some old engineers and lots of young entry level engineers, Gen-Z; zoomers. Only a few of them have a phone newer than last gen, and I know this because I've been asking around because I wanted a 256gb iphone 12 to replace my 256gb iphone 8 (has a broken camera and the new battery I installed went to crap within months) and quite a few of the young guys had phones iphone or android older than the 12 let alone the current gen 14. The older guys mostly have older phones too, and mostly iphones.

The car thing I see too. I see a lot of new and very expensive cars on my commute. I live in a pretty nice area and drive through some wealthy areas to get to work. I see exotics almost daily, and I can't leave my neighborhood without seeing stuff like X5s, Macans, everywhere, even S-classes and Range Rovers... I know that per the state statistics I'm pretty fortunate financially, but seeing people all over driving cars that cost a significant portion of my income makes me wonder how many people are spending a huge portion of their income on a nice car.

[roguetoaster]

To advocate for another position, kids are just another example of vain materialism.

You get to constantly complain about how much they cost/what a pain they are while secretly loving the whole exercise because you are absolutely certain that your kid is way better than your neighbor's.

You guys are sick...

[MR E30 325is]

To advocate for another position, kids are just another example of vain materialism.

You get to constantly complain about how much they cost/what a pain they are while secretly loving the whole exercise because you are absolutely certain that your kid is way better than your neighbor's.

You guys are sick...

No kids and I got my tubes tied ~8 years ago and never looked back. I'm glad I won't be partaking in that part of life/society.

The fiancé and I make a disgusting amount of money, wayyyy more than we can spend.

With that, we are ~8 weeks away from moving into a damn pickup truck, and spending most of our time walking and driving around on dirt. We just want to relax in the woods as frequently as possible.

I realized money would never fill that gap for me. But being dirty, exhausted, and physically drained? That shit hits the nail right on the head.

[Panici]

No kids and I got my tubes tied ~8 years ago and never looked back. I'm glad I won't be partaking in that part of life/society.

The fiancé and I make a disgusting amount of money, wayyyy more than we can spend.

With that, we are ~8 weeks away from moving into a damn pickup truck, and spending most of our time walking and driving around on dirt. We just want to relax in the woods as frequently as possible.

I realized money would never fill that gap for me. But being dirty, exhausted, and physically drained? That shit hits the nail right on the head.

Uhhhh, if you want to spread some of that wealth around, I wouldn't say no. 😉

That sounds like a great dirt adventure! Do you have an overlanding rig or something?
I too love being in nature. Typically go for a week-long camping trip every year, and enjoy cross-country mountain biking.

[MR E30 325is]

Uhhhh, if you want to spread some of that wealth around, I wouldn't say no. 😉

That sounds like a great dirt adventure! Do you have an overlanding rig or something?
I too love being in nature. Typically go for a week-long camping trip every year, and enjoy cross-country mountain biking.

Haha maybe someday! We are in the process of helping out some of her family at the moment.

Yes, I do. I literally can't wait to put it to use, day after day after day.

Fully self-sufficient for up to ten days (our max so far, water is our limiting resource, if camped near a stream or lake we can likely do 20+ days without moving or even starting the truck).

$105,000, so far, on a four-wheeled house for two:

Memorial Day Weekend by Michael Rickerd, on Flickr

_MG_4720-Enhanced-NR by Brent Prater, on Flickr

_MG_4303 by Brent Prater, on Flickr

Definitely materialistic AF to get it to this point, but the main systems should last for quite some time.

Long term plan is to physically place this vehicle in every possible country on this planet. At least 100 of them before I think about calling it quits.

[Panici]

Fully self-sufficient for up to ten days (our max so far, water is our limiting resource, if camped near a stream or lake we can likely do 20+ days without moving or even starting the truck).

$105,000, so far, on a four-wheeled house for two

Long term plan is to physically place this vehicle in every possible country on this planet. At least 100 of them before I think about calling it quits.

I've seen some of the mind-boggling pricetags for commercially-built overland rigs, so yours doesn't look too bad in comparison.

Really you're buying the ability to adventure and explore. Travel the world in your own way.

Pretty cool if you ask me. Are you chronicling your trips anywhere?

[MR E30 325is]

I've seen some of the mind-boggling pricetags for commercially-built overland rigs, so yours doesn't look too bad in comparison.

Really you're buying the ability to adventure and explore. Travel the world in your own way.

Pretty cool if you ask me. Are you chronicling your trips anywhere?

For now I have a build thread on TacomaWorld;, Another Around the World Tacoma. I'll start with that and see where I feel like heading as time goes on.

[e30davie]

I’m struggling to understand how you guys raise kids and deal with cars this old at the same time. I feel like I’d go either broke, insane, or both if I had to support even one kid in addition to my E30.

I bought my e30 about 2 years before my first kid was born. and when I got it I gave it a decent "once over". rebuilt the head, manual conversion, new brakes and suspension. so it was a solid running reliable car before the kids turned up. I even used for work for quite a number of years and transporting kids to and from daycare. I have always done things on the cheap, never paid anyone to do anything, and scrounged around for parts to keep it on the road, known when to spend money on good parts, and know where to save. and I have a shed full of spare parts from various engines I've parted out, heaps of hoses, alternators, bits and bobs that if required I can rummage through and get it back on the road immediately. I also do all my own maintenance on my house and other cars, So the cost saving from this more than pays for the e30. so my car is never the flashest, never the most modified, but its always driveable, ready for a quick spin to the shops etc for a bit of enjoyment.

I took my 5yr old kid for a ride on the local race track last week. sort of a fun event and slower speeds, he absolutely loved it. and got home and said to his mum "daddy needs more money to make his noisy race car faster so we can beat the other cars" haha. (nb - mummy did not give me any more money to make it go faster....yet)

[roguetoaster]

Transporting kids to and from daycare. I have always done things on the cheap, never paid anyone to do anything

Is daycare affordable or something in AU? I hear from parents that even the most humble daycare in the D.C. area is about $1,600 per month, or about 130% of my mortgage payment as a reference.

[e30davie]

Is daycare affordable or something in AU? I hear from parents that even the most humble daycare in the D.C. area is about $1,600 per month, or about 130% of my mortgage payment as a reference.

Depends on the definition of affordable I suppose. my wife only works 2 days a week. Currently it costs us $30/day for the 3yr old. And before my 5yr old kid started school it was about $50/day for him. so what's that, $750/month for the 3yr old if we sent him 5das a week, and $1000/month for the 5yr old if I sent 5 days a week. Daycare is government subsidized based on the income of the family, and its different subsidy levels for each subsequent kid and different costs per age at the daycare itself. so its very difficult to compare costs as there's a few factors. 2 kids in the same class at daycare might cost the parents vastly different amounts out of pocket. If my wife worked more, we would get less subsidy and have to pay more...annoying balancing act.

My current mortgage repayment is $2700/month....and we have a low mortgage compared to most who have bought a house in the last few yrs. Aus is well known for high house costs especially anywhere near the capital cities.

note: all $AUD figures.